Mutual Advisors LLC Acquires 4,638 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. $MO

Key Points

• Mutual Advisors LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 4.3%, acquiring an additional 4,638 shares during Q2, bringing its total holdings to 112,196 shares valued at $6,714,000.
• Altria Group reported earnings of $1.44 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing analyst expectations of $1.37, and its revenue increased by 0.2% year-over-year to $5.29 billion.
• The company recently raised its quarterly dividend to $1.06 from $1.02, with a current annualized yield of 6.5%.

Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 4.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 112,196 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 4,638 shares during the quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC's holdings in Altria Group were worth $6,714,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GQG Partners LLC grew its position in Altria Group by 8,146.4% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 18,698,594 shares of the company's stock worth $1,122,290,000 after purchasing an additional 18,471,846 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 1st quarter valued at $219,141,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,288,773 shares of the company's stock worth $3,798,592,000 after buying an additional 3,483,487 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 40.0% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,961,220 shares of the company's stock worth $717,913,000 after acquiring an additional 3,415,237 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 111.3% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 5,558,252 shares of the company's stock worth $333,606,000 after acquiring an additional 2,928,006 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $65.41 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $109.87 billion, a PE ratio of 12.65, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.55. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.86 and a 52-week high of $68.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $5.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.21 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. The company's revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were given a $1.06 dividend. This is a boost from Altria Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on MO. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group upgraded shares of Altria Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $62.11.

About Altria Group

Altria Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells smokeable and oral tobacco products in the United States. The company offers cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand; large cigars and pipe tobacco under the Black & Mild brand; moist smokeless tobacco and snus products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands; oral nicotine pouches under the on! brand; and e-vapor products under the NJOY ACE brand.

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